Method of distinguishing between crude oils

Abstract

Methods for distinguishing among oil samples, and more particularly between a fluid containing oil base mud and formation oil samples are described. The methods all rely on the discovery that the optical absorption spectrum of all crude oils in the visible and near infrared spectra can be described according to the equation OD=ae.sup.Eb, where (OD) is a measured optical density, (b) is a value between 0.37 and 0.55 chosen according to the wavenumber (E) and can be chosen as a constant equal to 4.6.times.10.sup.-4 cm, and (a) is an unknown which classifies the crude oil. By making measurements and solving for (a), a crude oil can be classified. In a flow stream which has a changing oil content, such as may be obtained by a borehole tool which obtains fluid samples from the formation, by monitoring the unknown (a), a determination may be made as to when a formation oil is being obtained as opposed to a mud filtrate.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.